


Combs And Shears and Crowns

by whatthedruidscallme



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Love, M/M, pre-wedding jitters, reassurance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-15 23:55:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21261704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatthedruidscallme/pseuds/whatthedruidscallme
Summary: On the day of their wedding, as Gwen helps him get ready, Merlin isn't so sure the king of Camelot should marry him after all.





	Combs And Shears and Crowns

His hands were shaking.

Gwen was bustling around him, making the occasionally clucking noise as she ran a comb through his hair, which Merlin fought against, or draped silk dyed in the deepest blue around him and tied it at his waist, which Merlin tried to slide off as discreetly as possible. Nothing worked. Gwen had the eyes of a hawk when it came to details like that, so even if he so much as ran a hand through his unruly hair, she was there to fix it.

“After all,” she had said disapprovingly after he tried to magic the silk into cotton, “it’s your wedding today. Don’t you want to look nice?”

She had tried to cut his hair before brushing it, bringing out a massive pair of rusty shears and coming at him with them, which he ducked out of and _insisted_ that he keep his hair, which was just beginning to curl nicely at the nape of his neck and around his ears.

“Arthur likes it like that!” Merlin protested when she brought them out again, clicking ominously. Gwen laughed and put them down with a _clack_ on the dresser, next to the silver circlet that kept drawing Merlin’s gaze. It was studded with chips of sapphire. Arthur had said it brought his eyes, which Merlin heartily disagreed with.

“He does not,” Gwen said. “You just like it to hide your ears.”

Merlin flushed. “Whatever. I’m keeping it. And if you try to cut it, I’ll just magic it back.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Gwen said wryly. “Next are the flowers.”

Merlin sighed. “Is that really necessary? I’m already going to have that thing—” he gestured towards the crown—“on my head, surely I don’t a wreath of flowers too.”

“You’re getting married to the King of Camelot today, a marriage that has taken far too long, in my opinion, and mostly brought about by the efforts of the knights—including Lancelot, who I’m trying to get to make plans for our own wedding. And Arthur put you in my hands,” she added when Merlin opened his mouth to interrupt. “So you’re going to look nice.”

Merlin wrinkled his nose. “Shouldn’t you be tending to Morgana?”

“She’s taking care of herself today. She was very agreeable about the whole thing, so I’d suggest thanking her when you see her in an hour.”

“Oh my stars, an hour,” Merlin said, panic beginning to catch in his throat. “I’m getting married in an hour?” He ran his hands through his hair again, ignoring Gwen’s muffled sigh. “I—I have to get up in front of the entire kingdom and admit I’m in love with Arthur in an _hour_?”

“Everyone already knows you’re in love with him.”

“Not because I’ve said it to them! I need to sit down.” Merlin stumbled towards the bed and sat heavily on it, bending over to put his head between his knees. “An hour…” he breathed. “Can I see Arthur?”

“Bad luck,” Gwen said, sitting next to him. Merlin looked up at her desperately. “_Please_, Gwen? I need to see him; he’s the only one who can calm me down. Please? I’ll owe you for a month.”

She looked at him pityingly. “Fine. Ten minutes.”

“Thank you,” Merlin said, letting his breath out in a gust of relief. She gave him another reassuring smile before leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.

Merlin drew his knees up to his chest and buried his head in them, breathing in quick little pants. He knew he wasn’t ready. Was it even appropriate for the king to marry a sorcerer when the law had only been changed a year ago? Was he going to be hung and quartered for this? Would the other kingdoms see them as a laughingstock? Was Merlin sacrificing the integrity of Camelot for his own selfish desires, for Arthur? What if he was?

The door opened abruptly and Merlin’s head jerked up to see Arthur stepping in through the threshold, shutting the door behind him. He halted right there at the door, a queer expression on his face. He was dressed in silks and chainmail and a meticulously cleaned red cloak, which swept restlessly around his boots. His hair gleamed like burnished gold underneath an elaborate crown, far heavier than the slim coronet that would be placed on Merlin’s own head in less than an hour, and his cheeks were red like he had been running.

“Arthur,” Merlin said. “Are you…going to come any closer?”

“You look—almost good,” Arthur said, with a certain measure of surprise in his voice.

“Gwen’s been at work at me all day,” he said quietly.

“She said you needed me.”

“I—I’m nervous.”

“About what?” Arthur said, coming closer to sit next to him, sliding his hand into Merlin’s calloused one. He rubbed his thumb along his knuckle.

Merlin inhaled shakily. “What if we’re not ready for this? What if we’re not meant to get married yet?”

“Hey,” Arthur said softly, cupping his cheek with his other hand. “What’s wrong? Is this just pre-wedding jitters or something more?”

“I don’t know, I just—”

“Do you love me?”

Merlin blinked. “Of course I do. You know that.”

“_I_ know that, I just wanted to remind you,” Arthur said, and then frowned, hand trailing up to rest at Merlin’s temple. “Your hair is still a bird’s nest, love.”

He sighed and flopped back on the bed. “I know,” he said glumly. “I didn’t want to let Gwen fix it.”

“Mm, that’s okay,” Arthur said, and leaned over him to kiss his forehead. Merlin’s eyes closed briefly. “I like it anyway.”

Merlin’s hand caught Arthur’s, who drew back patiently. There was still the slightest of smiles playing around his mouth. “Listen,” he said. “I know you’re worried about Camelot, and what everyone will think if I marry someone who used to be a servant—not to mention a sorcerer—and what everyone _outside_ of Camelot will think, and generally everyone in a hundred league vicinity. But I love you. You understand?”

“Yes,” Merlin murmured.

“Good,” Arthur said with obvious relief. “Kiss me before I go.”

Merlin smiled before propping himself up on his elbows to kiss him, but Arthur leaned down too far, and their lips met in a surprising clash of teeth and lips and tongue. Then Arthur was pressing down against him and Merlin was leaning back, biting on Arthur’s lip until he moaned into his mouth and his hands were at Merlin’s waist, pulling apart the silk tie that Gwen had worked on only half an hour before and his arm was sliding around his waist, pulling them flush together and Merlin wrapped his arms around Arthur’s neck, egging him on, until—

Arthur pulled away with a groan and sat up. His crown had been cast aside, his hair was askew, and his face was even more flushed than when he came in. Merlin grinning before falling back to the bed, breath still coming hard, lips still red.

“I have to go,” Arthur said, swallowing unsteadily.

“Alright,” Merlin said, and shrugged. “Be on your merry way.”

Arthur glared at him for a long second before muttering “just one more,” and surrendering, tugging Merlin up by his arm to pull him against his chest, Merlin’s head tipped back, Arthur’s hand in his hair, an ecstatic, glowing blur of lips and hands and heat until Arthur kissed him once more, softly, and then one more time on his nose, than his forehead, and than at last pulling reluctantly away.

“I really have to go,” Arthur murmured, stroking back Merlin’s hair. “I’ll see you up there?”

Merlin nodded hesitantly. “You promise you’ll be there?”

Arthur laughed. “Of course. I love you, okay? And let Gwen put the flowers in your hair.”

“What—why?”

“Because I like them,” Arthur breathed into Merlin’s ear, sending goose bumps rippling up his neck, and then he got up.

“I love you too,” Merlin said, clinging to his hand before letting it slip out of his grasp.

Arthur grinned and winked. “I know, love. I’ll see you in half an hour.”

A half hour later, Merlin stood at the beginning of a vast hall with flowers in his hair, and when he began his walk down to Arthur, his hands did not shake.

**Author's Note:**

> for marrymerthurmonth. Thanks for reading!


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